Protesters at the Supreme Court this June before the decision on the Texas abortion law. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

The Board of Health in Virginia voted Monday evening to lift restrictions imposed on abortion clinics in 2011.

In an 11-4 vote, the board removed the “Rules and Regulations for the Licensure of Hospitals in Virginia,” which required that healthcare facilities that perform at least five abortions a month must meet hospital-like standards, among other guidelines.

The regulations have resulted in the closure of clinics in Virginia. One abortion provider in D.C., Dr. Jamila Perritt, told DCist that such regulations amount to “barely hidden contempt masquerading as concern.”

The Board of Health said that the regulations were not constitutional, after the Supreme Court struck down provisions of a Texas law that created burdensome restrictions on abortion clinics this summer, including requiring that outpatient clinics have the same building codes as hospitals.

In the majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer argued that the restrictions did not protect women’s health, as advocates for the law had posited, but instead placed “a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion … When directly asked at oral argument whether Texas knew of a single instance in which the new requirement would have helped even one woman obtain better treatment, Texas admitted that there was no evidence in the record of such a case.”

After that ruling, Planned Parenthood vowed to fight similar abortion restrictions in Virginia and seven other states.

The meeting lasted eight hours, according to WTRV, and those wishing to speak began lining up at 2 a.m. The four votes opposing the change were all appointees from previous Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

Current governor Terry McAuliffe applauded the vote in a written statement, which he said “signals a victory and the end of a protracted regulatory fight over the future of women’s health in Virginia.” He thanked the board for “working to repeal onerous regulations designed solely to reduce or outright remove access to essential reproductive health services for women across the Commonwealth.”

However, other aspects of the 2011 law live on, despite the board’s vote, including more inspections and increased record-keeping requirements, per The Washington Post.

Other restrictions on abortion in Virginia include a 24 hour waiting period, a compulsory ultrasound, and a ban of public funding, with an exception for cases of life endangerment, rape, incest or fetal impairment.